This is a photo that I came across last week and just thought it would be good for Wordless Wednesday! It is a bit faded but was taken circa 1960 and is of my maternal grandmother Lucy Sinclair (nee Dartnell), myself and my brother John at Whitstable, Kent where our grandmother always took us for a holiday. My brother Alan took the picture.

I have two photos taken in 1945 that have been passed to me by my Mum, of my Dad and his shipmates from when he was in the Merchant Navy during WWII.

My dear Dad is the second from the right as you look at this photo, but is not in the second photo. I would love to find out what happened to his shipmates and just wonder how I would begin to search for them? The third pic is of the reverse of the second photograph where four of Dad’s friends have signed it.

This photo shows my grandmother who is clutching a handbag, Lucy Harriett Sinclair (nee Dartnell) (1883 – 1984 yes she lived for 101 years) with Mrs. Warnes. For my Gran, Mrs. Warnes was like a second mother to her after her mother died when Gran was 14.

Original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2011

I know this was a day trip sailing on the River Thames but no idea when it was. I love the clothes and hats!! 😉

July 1, 2010

For those of you that saw my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday posing the question I Wonder What They Are Looking At??? with the following photo:

original photograph taken by me Summer 2009 - copyright 2010

Did you have a guess? Did you guess right? Here’s a little clue:

original photograph taken by me Summer 2009 - copyright 2010

Yep, it’s someone in a Bee-Keeper’s outfit!! I had to face my greatest fear – I am allergic to things like bee and wasp stings and know that such stings can kill. So, when we were visited by a huge swarm of millions (well maybe not millions but thousands) of bees which proceeded to go down one of our chimney pots and into our bedroom! Shriek!! Aaaaaaaagh!! How awful is that?

My brave partner Paul ventured into the bedroom to open the windows to let them out. But the silly things went out the window and back up to the chimney pot and back down into our bedroom! Which is what the family are looking at in the photo I used for Wordless Wednesday yesterday.

Our friend arrived in her Bee-Keeping outfit and was hoping to gather the swarm and take it back to her small farm to add to the beehives she already had. So she came armed with a smoke gun (to make them sleepy – well it’s supposed to) and her net to gather them somehow in their huge round swarm. But …

They would not get sleepy! They had lots and lots of smoke aimed at them in our bedroom, but they would not shift or sleep. We tried on and off for hours to make them sleepy so our friend could come back and get them. This went on for a couple of days or so and of course meant that we could not sleep in our bedroom and our clothes and bits and bobs were in there and the bees were happily going everywhere in there!!!

Unfortunately we ended up having to kill them, they just would not shift or get sleepy. Some got out back up the chimney but most stayed and were not intending on going anywhere else!!

This photo shows a tiny, tiny sample of some of them, there really were thousands. It took a couple of weeks sleeping on the chairs in our living room before we sorted everything out and made sure there were no angry bees laying in wait for us in the bedroom!

My Graveyard Rabbit Blog

My Project 365 Blog

YOUR ANCESTORS

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
Would you be proud of them
Or don't you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees
And some of them, you know
Do not particularly please!

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
There might be some of them, perhaps
You wouldn't care to know
But here's another question, which
Requires a different view ...
If you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of you?(Author unknown)